1. Summary

We propose to form the California Hazards Institute (CHI), a Multicampus Research Project (MRP) of the University of California. Following initial organizational activities, other state and private colleges and universities, as well as private commercial and financial groups, agencies of the California state government, agencies of the the US federal government, and international groups would be invited to participate.

The proposed mission statement of the CHI is:

Through research and education, the California Hazards Institute Multicampus Research Project will provide the best available knowledge, tools, information, and future workforce to make California a national leader in hazard forecasting, planning, and management for disaster reduction.

2. The Problem

California’s abundant resources are linked with its natural hazards. Earthquakes, landslides, wildfires, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, severe storms, fires, and droughts afflict the state regularly. These events have the potential to become great disasters, like the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, that overwhelm the capacity of society to respond. At such times, the fabric of civic life is frayed, political leadership is tested, economic losses can dwarf available resources, and full recovery can take decades. A patchwork of Federal, state and local programs are in place to address individual hazards, but California lacks effective coordination to forecast, prevent, prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from, the harmful effects of natural disasters. Moreover, we do not know enough about the frequency, size, time, or locations where they may strike, nor about how the natural environment and man-made structures would respond. As California’s population grows and becomes more interdependent, even moderate events have the potential to trigger catastrophes.

3. The Opportunity

Natural hazards need not become natural disasters if they are addressed proactively and effectively, rather than reactively. The University of California has world-class faculty and students engaged in research and education in fields of direct relevance to hazards. For that reason, the UC has a window of opportunity to emerge as a world leader in managing natural hazards in order to prevent loss of life and property and degradation of environmental quality:

• UC has a world-class pool of experts in natural hazard research, including physical, biological, environmental, and health scientists, engineers, toxicologists, social scientists, economists, and policy experts.
• UC is a world leader in information technology, needed for research in forecasting, planning, coordination, response and recovery from disasters arising from natural hazards
• UC has the intellectual leadership to develop effective approaches to the management of natural hazards and the disasters they cause
• Recent events in the US and around the world have raised awareness of the need to address natural hazards proactively at a regional rather than national scale.
• Research in forecasting, preparation and response is a cost effective way to protect life, health, property and environmental quality.

4. The Solution

Create a system-wide Multicampus Research Project through the University of California to research innovative, effective solutions for California. The MRU will build on the rich intellectual capital and expertise of the Golden State to provide solutions by Californians for Californians. It will provide the best available science, knowledge and tools for leaders, managers, stakeholders, policy makers, educators and the public to effectively and comprehensively combat the problems caused by the natural hazards that threaten the Golden State.

5. Strategic Goals

Towards this mission the California Hazards Institute MRU will:

• Develop and sustain partnerships between researchers on UC campuses to research the most effective science-based strategies.
• Centralize information on California’s natural hazards and response strategies.
• Collaborate and coordinate with state, federal, and international organizations on natural disaster research, forecasting, preparedness, mitigation, and recovery.
• Research a responsive, real-time framework for managing California’s hazards.
• Improve public understanding of natural hazards.
• Train the next generation of natural hazards scientists, engineers, and policy makers.
• Provide organizational infrastructure to coordinate and capitalize on existing hazards-related research and education in California with the goal of informing policy and decision-making in California.
• Set priorities and direction for collaborative efforts to forecast, prevent, prepare for, mitigate, respond to, and recover from, natural hazards that affect California.

6. California Hazards Institute: Proposed Activities

Political entities in the state of California often have difficulties locating sources of information on potential hazards, and appropriate mitigation and response strategies. Proposition 140, which limited terms of elected state legislators, also reduced legislative staff. As a result, both the state senate, through the Senate Office of Research (SOR), and the Assembly and Governor’s offices, through the California Research Bureau (CRB), have difficulty gathering the necessary information as background for legislative and executive action. Further complications arise as a result of interactions between the federal Office of Homeland Security and the state Office of Emergency Services. The Little Hoover Commission has determined that the state of California is not presently able to address catastrophic hazards. All of these organizations need information, research, and informed advice on strategies and priorities dealing with major, catastrophic hazards.

The California Hazards Institute would accomplish the strategic goals described in Section 4 by developing a collaborative organization, funded initially as a Multicampus Research Project of the University of California. Activities of the California Hazards Institute, which are focused on research, education, public outreach, workshops and service, are described below. Participation across the campuses will be developed and enhanced through conferences, workshops, graduate student exchange, GSRs, shared instruments, and database development.

More specifically, research and education will be enabled through:

• Establishment and continuous updating of a comprehensive data base describing faculty research and expertise, maps, services and information available through the UC system, as well as other research organizations, both within the state, within the US, and internationally
• Regular workshops and symposia for faculty, staff and students, state workers, legislators, staff, and the public to develop new collaborations, to facilitate the flow of information, and to evaluate priorities and needs in research and education, outreach, and communication
• Organizing collaborations and setting priorities for research
• Use of internal state funding, leveraging external grants for funding of research and education throughout the UC and other research organizations
• Training and education of students to become scientists, engineers, and policy makers with expertise in hazard assessment.
• Outreach to government and the public, through organization of informational seminars, public lectures, consultations, and other forms of communication
• Research in hazard science, risk, engineering, mitigation, response and recovery, and public health and safety

7. Why is an MRP Needed?

All UC campuses have research and educational programs relating to natural hazards. At present, however, these programs are not generally coordinated with each other, and are often not coordinated with other statewide and national research activities. Many of these campus research programs are not coordinated across the campuses either. Specific examples of such programs include the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management at UC Berkeley, the earthquake forecasting research program at UC Davis, research on levee stability at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, the wildfire research program at Los Alamos National Laboratories, and earthquake physics research at UC Riverside. See for example:

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/everyday/earthquake/

Other research programs in hazard mitigation, complex systems research, emergency medicine, and emergency response have been documented in CHI organizational meetings. Research in these areas would greatly benefit from coordination across the UC system, and would significantly strengthen the research and educational efforts, allowing: 1) Programs and activities at one campus to create a more synergistic and unified approach to problem identification and solution; 2) System-wide cooperation in applications for external funding support; 3) Support for integrative activities and workshops in areas of mutual interest; and 4) Improved system-wide, state-wide, and national visibility for hazard research.

Examples of integrative workshops might include topics such as:

• Levee failures and their consequences
• Earthquake forecasting and risk
• Mitigation engineering for built environments to reduce risk
• Information technology needs for emergency response to levee failures, major urban earthquakes and pandemics
• Common features associated with emergency medical training and response to sudden onset hazards

One of the important products or activities of the the CHI-MRP will be a database or registry of people (faculty, students, researchers) and programs (research grants, centers, institutes, workshops) relating to California hazards. At the present time, there is no organized way for faculty or students on different UC campuses, or even many times on the same campus, to easily determine with whom they might collaborate, or from whom they might seek information on a particular problem of interest. The hazards registry would be a continuously-evolving catalog (web site) of information that would be the means for researchers to join with others to carry out research, write better and more successful proposals, and broadcast their results.

The hazards registry will also serve external needs as well. The hazards registry will be used by California state officials as a source of information on California hazards research. Thus it will provide a much-needed service from both the UC system perspective, as well as the California state agency and government perspective. It will serve as a “one-stop shopping” center and resource for information on California hazards.

8. California Hazards Institute MRP: Proposed Management

The CHI MRU management structure will have the following components:

• A system-wide Director reporting to the UCOP Vice Provost - Research. The Director will have overall responsibility for direction of the Institute and management of its resources, research programs, and people.
• Campus Associate Directors whose responsibilities will be to work with the Director and their respective campuses to develop the programs outlined above. Together with the Director, the Associate Directors will constitute the Board of Directors - Executive Committee of the MRP.
• An External Advisory Committee to provide useful information, advice, feedback, and other forms of comment on the Institute and its programs.

Each campus shall have the responsibility for proposing an Academic Senate member to serve as campus Associate Director. The UCOP will have the responsibility for proposing an Academic Senate member to serve as system-wide Director.